Dry Hire Venue Guide

Choosing the right venue can make or break an event and when it comes to dry hire venues, or wet hire venues for that matter, this can be especially important and complicated process and this guide will help you avoid the pitfalls that can occur in the planning process.

What is a dry hire venue? A dry hire venue is a venue that is hired as an empty shell, without certain elements that are required for the majority of events, such as catering, audiovisual equipment, furniture, staffing and other elements, although when searching for dry hire venues in London this will vary quite a bit from venue to venue.

The first thing to ask yourself when looking for a dry hire venue is whether you actually need it. One sensible reason to search for a dry hire venue is if you have specific caterers and suppliers that you wish to work with. This is very common with weddings from a variety of cultures, as well as with businesses who have used their same dedicated caterers for many years.

A dry hire venue can allow you to have greater freedom over decisions with suppliers and in our opinion this is the main reason for anyone to choose to search for a dry hire venue rather than any other.

Another common reason to search for a dry hire venue is to save money. However, when it comes to finding dry hire venues in London this is not usually the outcome, as many venues in London have built relationships and developed preferred supplier lists in an attempt to provide a consistent high level of service.

In many cases there will be extra charges if you wish to use your own suppliers and other costs such as corkage fees for bringing in your own drinks, as an example.

In many cases, it is possible to bring in your own drinks and achieve the catering style that you wish, or even use your own suppliers whilst still saving money over dry hire spaces, so our advice is to keep all options open and weigh up the costs before committing to a certain decision.

Once you have decided that a dry hire venue is right for you the next step is to search for venues, which we have made easy by compiling a selection of the most popular dry hire venues in London for you right here!

Check back soon for the next article in this dry hire venue series, where we will give you a great selection of tips and suggestions to help you book the best dry hire venue and plan your event without a hiccup!